Sunday, October 31, 2010

I have a bird who does not always eat Pomegranate seeds when they are offered to him!!!

Tonight's dinner was a mix of fresh cut vegetables (kale, pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, bell pepper) and fruit (Poms and orange) and while Pixel's bowl looked like a murder scene as did the wall behind Shade's cage, Zuri apparently did not touch his seeds!!! No stain in the bowl or around it and all the grains seemed to have been left intact!

While he's eaten them in the past, I've never ever came across a parrot who would turn it's beak at it (well except Piper who doesn't really know what they are because he runs away from fresh food every time it's offered (and it's always offered) but I'm sure if he actually tasted them once he'd be hooked)..

I mean even Petey, who's somewhat picky, will eat them (if only them in the bowl of mix food).

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Earlier last week I have received an order I made with Things for Wings the week before.Included in the order were full toys as well as toy parts. I have a few pictures to share, from the pre-made toys as well, as to show off one of the ways I use the natural wood parts I ordered.

First, here is a picture of the packaging on the inside. Everything was nice and organized.

...are keeping Zuri so busy right now that he is staying out of trouble!

He's happily chewing away at his pod section, working hard to get the seed. Much better past time than chasing the other birds ;)

The seed pods have really been an overwhelming success so far - I had put a piece in each of the cages and couldn't find Pixel's or Shade's, Zuri's piece was down to a tiny lump and Joey had profusely chewed his. Petey left his intact and Piper didn't get any since they are a bit too tough for him I think (he did get a Christmas palm nut which he has touched!).

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

It really stemmed from my desire to try the Poinciana seed pods after seeing many posts made about them on one of the bird forums I am on, by the owner of the Cozy Nestbox, Kelly. So Kelly offered to do a trial run and I got a few other items.

Some arrived here in great condition, some were not so great. Most of what was in my test package was ok for bird consumption though.

So far, the Poinciana seed pods (although they had started going brown (drying out) as we suspected they might) and the Christmas palm nuts are a big hit. I'll share a few pictures I have of the birds with the latter, I'll probably have the pictures with the Poinciana seed pods up tomorrow or sometime this week-end. Joey, Shade and Pixel were definitively the most enthusiastic about the products, Zuri chimed it when he saw Joey chewing on a seed pod and the prospect of stealing it away was too hard to resist ;) No luck so far with Piper or Petey.

Again, this was a test shipment to Canada. Kelly is still trying to figure out some things before making them widely available to Canadians.

So..here are some pictures :)

I started by giving them half a Christmas palm nut..

And then Joey decided he'd go towards the container I kept them in and stole a whole one and enjoyed on one of the stands..

Sunday, October 17, 2010

When Pixel first arrived here, she seemed ok with all the birds but one.

Shade.

Shade didn't do anything to her. In fact, Shade is pretty easy going with all the birds here.

So where could this come from?

Of course, like with humans, not all birds will necessarily get along and this might just stem from a personality difference.

However, I do believe there might have been other reason(s), the biggest being competition in Pixel's eye for my attention. Shade is undeniably more my bird than she is my boyfriend's bird. Pixel, as of now, is still weary of my boyfriend (it's getting better). Pixel was particularly "aggressive" towards Shade when Shade would be on me or around me and she wanted the attention as well. But some of these display of aggression also occurred on play stands. When she acted out towards Shade, she got some time out in the bird room (as these always happened when everyone was out in the living room area) for a few minutes and then I would bring her back and put her on a stand further away from me and I would spend more time with Shade (as she has shown to be a bit jealous I believe).

This was definitively more pronounced earlier on. Although I don't believe these two will never be the best of friends, they do seem to have made some progress. Here's a picture of them hanging out in close proximity on the same stand. They were like this for quite some time and it only ended when Shade moved on to get some food elsewhere. There is definitively hope that they will at least learn to stand each other.

Ok to be honest, I have wanted that particular one for a few months now (I think I first saw it at the beginning of the summer) but it was far too expensive back then. Every few weeks I would go to the pet store it was at and look at the price. At one point it was cheaper by $10 which still made it too expensive so I waited some more.

Yesterday we went back at the pet store and I went in, as I always did, giving myself a limit on how much I would spend for it (this amount has always been the same) and there it was...even cheaper than my ceiling price! So I snatched it up.

If we put things in perspective, I'm still one Java tree short compared to how many birds I have (5 stands/trees to 6 birds), so I'm not totally crazy, right??? ;)

In the end, I got it $50-$60 cheaper than what it was first being sold for..